"In the field on controlling liquid movement on surfaces, super water-repellent surfaces have been well-documented. In contrast, comparatively fewer reports are available on the design of water pinning surfaces."

"Space lizards with sticky feet have been created to act as cosmic cleaners by the European Space Agency. The robots have been designed to mimic gecko lizards in order to help clean the outside of spacecrafts. Researchers at ESA and the Simon Fraser University in Canada believe their 'dry adhesive' materials inspired by geckos could lead to hull-crawling automatons that look after future spaceships."

"[...] a number of designers and roboticists have already been looking at how the creatures of nature move. On the following slides, you'll find some ofthe ways nature's creativity is already being put to use."

"The rigidity of current surgical instruments means it is sometimes only possible to remove part of a brain tumour. Limitations such as these led Professor Paul Breedveld to develop a fundamentally new class of flexible surgical instruments, inspired by the anatomy of octopus tentacles. [...] The tentacles of an octopus are made up of an ingenious composition of muscles which work together in various layers, rings, bundles and packages. Breedveld's early instruments were based on a single ring of steel cables surrounded by coiled springs, whereas the new instruments are based on a so-called dendritic mechanism, with branched extensions. They consist of a flexible stem which ends in a number of manoeuvrable arms. Each arm is made up of a densely structured package of flexible steering elements. The instruments also possess shape memory, therefore they 'know' where we have been."

"Entomologists study insects known for their hard exoskeletons, jointed appendages, segmented bodies, bilateral symmetry and antennae. But perhaps the most impressive part of an insect is its lateral compound eyes. Scientists wishing to study insects have over 1 million species to select from!

Insect eyes are so impressive scientist and researcher John Rogers of the Science Research Group at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois, is designing miniature drones cameras based on their unique design. The big challenge for engineers is to build a drone camera with a 180° range of vision and clear vision throughout that line of sight. Insects have this ability when born."

"[...] Compared to many engineering materials, the substances/materials of biology do not have any especially outstanding characteristic. They are successful not so much because of what they are but because of the way in which they are put together. The bulk of mechanical loads in biology are carried by polymer fibres such as cellulose (plants), collagen (animals), chitin (insects, crustaceans) and silks (spiders's webs). The fibres are bonded together by various substances (polysaccharrides, polyphenols, etc.), sometimes in combination with minerals such as calcium carbonate (mollusk shells) and hydroxyapatite (bone). Their geometrical organization and the degree of interaction between them provide the means of tailoring properties for specific requirements, meeting the necessary functional performance."

"A Duke research team has developed a better recipe for synthetic replacement cartilage in joints, calling for a newly designed durable hydrogel to be poured over a three-dimensional fabric scaffold. Combining two innovative technologies they each helped develop, lead authors Farshid Guilak, a professor of orthopedic surgery and biomedical engineering, and Xuanhe Zhao, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, found a way to create artificial replacement tissue that mimics both the strength and suppleness of native cartilage."

"The Mirasol display technology (developed by Qualcomm) is based on biomimetics - that is, technology that imitates nature. The natural phenomenon that makes a butterfly’s wings or a peacock’s feathers shimmer and give off their rich, striking colors is the same exact quality that drives how Mirasol displays generate color. How do butterflies and peacocks do it? Through microscopic structures on their wings and feathers they are each able to create truly vivid colors simply by causing light to interfere with itself. This "interference" is the reason the term "interferometric" comes into play."

"Earlier this year, we reported about a finding which revealed that physical structure of Psaltoda claripenniscicada wings can shred certain types of rod-shaped bacteria. After analyzing the surface, researchers at the Swinburne University of Technology used biomimicry to create a surface with similar properties. This nanosurface could lead to development of a new generation of nanostructured antibacterial materials.

“Based on this discovery, we investigated other insects that may possess similar surface architectures that might kill more bacteria, in particular the deadly strains of the Staphylococcus aureus or golden staph bacterium”, said Elena Ivanova, microbiology professor at the Swinburne University of Technology. Their search led them to the wings of the Diplacodes bipunctata (Wandering Percher dragonfly), whose spike-like nanostructure destroys both rod-shaped and spherical bacteria."

"The secrets of owls' near silent wings has been revealed by scientists who could now use the technology to develop quieter aircraft. A new study has shown how the bird of prey's naturally evolved plumage gives the hunting advantage of 'acoustic stealth', allowing it to sneak up on targets. Research found that many owl species have developed feathers which can effectively eliminate the aerodynamic noise from their wings as they cut through the air."

"There’s an entire industry built around how to be a better leader and build strong, dynamic teams. But for the last few years, my colleague and dear friend Jane Fulton Suri and I have been looking to the earth and seas and sky for inspiration. A Partner, Chief Creative Officer, and a founding member of IDEO’s human-centered design practice, Jane believes that the natural world has much to teach us about cultivating the optimal conditions for creative teams. Together, with help from design biologist Tim McGee, we’ve come up with a few bio-inspired tips."

"In the ongoing drive to create and communicate about sustainability in the emerging economy, it can be useful to conceive of sustainability not as a quantifiable end goal, but as an emergent property. [...] We could learn a thing or two from the collective creatures, the super-organisms, for whom emergence is no big deal —or whom sustainability is given, understood and inevitable."

"A new molecular communications system could beam messages and data underground, underwater or inside the body, where other forms of communication aren't practical. Plants and animals use molecular signaling all the time, from sweet-smelling flowers to insect pheromones. Bees, for example, use pheromones — signaling chemicals among animals — to alarm each other when there's a threat to the hive. Now, a team of researchers has shown that this chemical language can also be used to send messages in environments where electromagnetic signals can't be used, such as in tunnels, in pipelines or underwater. "

"[...] the ‘polar bear pavilion’ is a prototype of a textile membrane structure, which offers new energy saving solutions for human habitations. The name says it all – despite the fact it is not intended for them, the inspiration for the outer layer of the building came from polar bears. “We came across the polar bear principle when we were studying older bionics books from the 1980s and decided to use it for our work on textile membrane structures. Rather than copying it directly, we studied the physical properties of polar bear skin and used other materials to imitate it,” said project leader Dr. Thomas Stegmaier of the Institute of Textile Technology and Process Engineering (ITV) in Denkendorf. "

"In recent years, the desire to emulate botanical processes for environmental benefit has inspired "design similes," such as cities that behave like forests, buildings that act as trees, or products that operate like plants. Although such comparisons serve to promote ideal goals, they are difficult to put into actual practice. Irvine, Calif.-based Newlight Technologies has found a way to achieve the latter objective, with a plastic that is made by mimicking the material production method of plants. AirCarbon is a type of polyester that is made from air rather than oil. Like plants, Newlight's "GHG-to-Plastic" process captures CO2 from the air, and isolates the carbon and oxygen elements. The company then polymerizes C and O and reassembles them into a long-chain thermopolymer. The resulting plastic is biodegradable, recyclable in multiple stages, and has programmable compostability."

"Drawing inspiration from how beetles and tree frogs keep their feet attached to submerged leaves, National University of Singapore (NUS) researchers have developed the first effective process, called “face-to-face transfer,” to grow and transfer high-quality graphene on silicon and other stiff substrates."

"Engineers at two universities in Pittsburgh have copied the way amphibians regenerate their body parts in the model for the synthetic gel. [...] The ability of amphibians to re-grow a limb or a tail was a "truly a remarkable thing", Ms Balazs said. She added: "You can mimic in a synthetic material something that happens in biology. It does not even happen in human beings, really."

"A composite aluminum announced in a new study this week borrows its structure from the Asian pomelo. When you´re trying remove them to reach the tastiness within, the peels of citrus fruits are a waxy annoyance. This is especially true of the pomelo, a type of Asian grapefruit. But while this thick peel thwarts hungry humans, it lets the pomelo take a pummeling. A 4-pound fruit can fall 30 feet and land without splitting open because its peel has a composite structure that absorbs the impact. And now, that fruit has inspired a new kind of metal."

"[...] people are also starting to look to nature not just for technical assistance, but for system-wide strategic solutions. Whether it is working out the best strategy to deal with economic recessions or contemplating the best way to lay out a new town, problem solvers are looking to nature for deeper insights. And little wonder. Over millions of years nature has managed thousands of interrelated components and living systems that collaborate to deliver a sustainable and self-generating system that benefit all its members. It is the way that nature organises itself to deal with this complexity that is the key for a new way of thinking about our problems according to Tim Winton, the founder of Pattern Dynamics. “Biomimicry takes the tactics of nature to make actual physical mechanisms, but Pattern Dynamics uses the patterns in nature to develop high level principles that can be used to build generative strategies,” he said."

"The Robot Safari in London Science Museum will see the world premiere of the underwater robot U-CAT, a highly maneuverable robot turtle, designed to penetrate shipwrecks. U-CAT’s locomotion principle is similar to sea turtles. Independently driven four flippers make the robot highly maneuverable; it can swim forward and backward, up and down and turn on spot in all directions. Maneuverability is a desirable feature when inspecting confined spaces such as shipwrecks. The robot carries an onboard camera and the video footage can be later used to reconstruct the underwater site."

"StartupNectar enables early-stage, biomimicry-based ventures to access resources and gain traction in the marketplace. The incubation model is informed by nature’s strategies for creating conditions conducive to life".

"Human body armor has come a long way since the steel-plated suits of the Middle Ages, but protective animal structures — such as some shells and scales — still beat the most sophisticated man-made gear in terms of mobility and rigidity. Researchers at MIT are now using3D printing to bring humans up to speed with their animal kin by studying some of the sturdiest forms of animal armor, particularly fish scales, to design gear that matches the flexibility, comfort and durability found in the natural world."

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